Democrats regain Senate majority with gains in Republican strongholds

Democrats have won control of the United States Senate in the 2026 midterm elections, according to Associated Press projections issued late Tuesday night. The party secured at least 53 seats in the 100-member chamber, with counting continuing in a handful of contests. Democrats needed a net gain of four seats to overturn the Republican majority and had flipped at least seven by late Tuesday.

The result will break the Republican hold on the presidency and both chambers of Congress established in the 2024 election. In the outgoing 119th Congress, Republicans have 53 Senate seats, while Democrats hold 45 and caucus with two independents. The Senate had been considered more difficult for Democrats to capture than the House of Representatives because fewer seats were being contested.

Several Democratic victories came in states with long records of Republican success. In South Carolina, paediatrician Annie Andrews defeated Darline Graham, the Republican sister of the late longtime Senator Lindsey Graham. No Democrat had won a Senate election in the state since 1998. In neighbouring North Carolina, former Democratic Governor Roy Cooper defeated Republican Michael Whatley.

Texas also delivered a Democratic upset, with state legislator and seminary student James Talarico defeating Republican state Attorney General Ken Paxton. Democrats had not won a statewide election there since 1994. In Kansas, Democratic megachurch pastor Adam Hamilton defeated incumbent Republican Senator Roger Marshall, securing a Senate victory in a state that last elected a Democratic senator in 1932.

Democrats gained three more seats in Ohio, Maine and Iowa. Sherrod Brown defeated incumbent Republican Jon Husted in Ohio, while Troy Jackson unseated longtime Republican Senator Susan Collins in Maine. In Iowa, Paralympic gold medallist Josh Turek beat Republican Ashley Hinson following a contest that attracted hundreds of millions of dollars in advertising spending.

The party also retained several seats, including Jon Ossoff's in the swing state of Georgia. Virginia Senator Mark Warner, who has served in the chamber since 2009, won a fourth term. In his Kansas victory speech, Hamilton said Republicans, independents and Democrats had expressed dissatisfaction with events in Washington.

Voters decided 35 Senate contests this cycle, comprising 33 regular elections and special elections in Ohio and Florida. Those vacancies followed JD Vance's move to the vice presidency and Marco Rubio's appointment as secretary of state in 2025. Senators serve six-year terms, with roughly a third of seats contested at each election, while House members serve two-year terms.

President Donald Trump told Fox News that Democrats had “fought hard” and suggested the war on Iran contributed to Republican losses through higher gasoline costs. In a separate Truth Social post, he emphasised that he had not been on the ballot and claimed Republicans would have won decisively if he had been.

Trump also said he would cooperate with Democrats in the next Congress, although he anticipated vetoing legislation he regarded as unacceptable. He suggested that negotiations would follow a period of vetoes, saying, “And we’ll work together.”